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Topic Review (Newest First)

03-11-2014 09:26 PM

sumer

11,205 views.
Wow.. If you came here and it helped you, please drop a comment. I would love to read if it really worked or not.
And yeah about my unit, its working fantastic. I have dismantled my planted tank but I have a tanganyikan setup in the same tank.
My tangs love the sunrise/sunset effect.
See the vid-

theoretically, green light is better to compensate for reds and blues.
white led consists of several(usually 2) spectrum spikes which in fact might be poor on green color. and while emitted light appears white and strong to human eye, it might reflect poorly from green surface(plants). in other words you might get blind from strong white light when looking directly at that led, but when directing it to plant it might look dimm because of green spectrum absense
im currently waiting for ordered leds to experiment more with this white vs green led thing on my DIY plant led setup.

PS. you did awesome job there

I know what you are saying. And for the same reason I added 2 OCW LEDs in my unit. OCWs have red, cyan and green in them. And I think thats the thing which is helping my plants a lot.

Great build! I LOVE my MakersLED heat sinks. I have changed things up a couple of times and I'm so glad I'm able to tinker with it. Nice job

Thanks. Yeah Its kind of a big investment at first but later you find that how helpful it is.

06-05-2013 02:46 AM

theblondskeleton

A Complete Idiot's guide to make an LED lighting unit

Great build! I LOVE my MakersLED heat sinks. I have changed things up a couple of times and I'm so glad I'm able to tinker with it. Nice job

05-30-2013 02:59 PM

EngineChauffer

Fantastic write up! This will definitely be my go-to post if/when I decide to DIY LED. Your plants are beautiful!

Great job and thanks for sharing!

05-30-2013 01:37 PM

dzega

theoretically, green light is better to compensate for reds and blues.
white led consists of several(usually 2) spectrum spikes which in fact might be poor on green color. and while emitted light appears white and strong to human eye, it might reflect poorly from green surface(plants). in other words you might get blind from strong white light when looking directly at that led, but when directing it to plant it might look dimm because of green spectrum absense
im currently waiting for ordered leds to experiment more with this white vs green led thing on my DIY plant led setup.

PS. you did awesome job there

05-29-2013 09:58 AM

sumer

I was just wondering- Does this journal helped anyone in understanding or DIYing a LED unit ?

From the looks of it, your light is definitely doing the job. Any idea how much a bare bones unit like this would cost to build? Nothing fancy, on and off, enough lights to get into high light range, small tank, like 24"W x 14.5"H.

I got your point. Just a simple LED unit with on/off with the same lights and driver would be $200 +/- 25 (No fancy heat sink, controller).
Rotala mini Butterfly is as red as Tom sent me. Egleria fluctuans is growing madly. This is enough to put a light unit into "successful" category i think. I'm pretty satisfied with the built.

04-05-2013 04:07 AM

Nubster

From the looks of it, your light is definitely doing the job. Any idea how much a bare bones unit like this would cost to build? Nothing fancy, on and off, enough lights to get into high light range, small tank, like 24"W x 14.5"H.

04-05-2013 03:49 AM

jccaclimber

Very nice. I may have missed it, but what size tank is this over, and at what height?

04-04-2013 08:09 AM

sumer

If you're planning on a new light unit, this is worth spending time for.

04-04-2013 08:04 AM

PhillyMurse

This is awesome! Thanks for putting in the time to create this. Hopefully I can give it a go when time permits.

04-04-2013 07:30 AM

sumer

Here's what I'm growing with this light-

I'm not sure what is 100 DIY led post but you can just copy and paste the link.

Rob- thanks. I'm glad you liked it. I'm soon gonna attempt one like you have made.
I dont have any algae issues after a few in initial phase and a spirogyra infestation. But now my tank is mature and plants are blooming. Reds are red.. Who says LED cant grow red plants.

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